Featured Post

03 June 2008

During this entire primary I've maintained that I'd be happy with either candidate winning the nomination and for the most part, I stand by that statement.

Yet, on the way to pick up the kid for soccer practice and listening to NPR, I got all choked up. I was seriously mourning Hillary's loss. Stay with me, k? My thought process the last 6 months has been as insane as this post will be...But I was choked up at the failure of not just the Clinton campaign, but that I called this years ago.

I keep going back to all those chats I've had over coffee, tea, beer, where someone asks me "What do you think will happen first? A Black man or a woman?" My answer was always black man. NOT because I think that racism is less in this country, but because I do think that sexism is more pronounced...more unwavering. With racists, there's the "But my golf buddy is black!" Please, no, this isn't an oppression Olympics post, k?

I hear the Obamafanatics stomp their feet about racism oozing from the campaign and I say, yes, yes there was. But they ignore the sexism. Flip that for Clintonistas.

And that's where my mind starts to go wonky. For every anti-Hillary rant, I can pull out an anti-Barack one and vice versa. She's awesome talking about the issues. He's awesome at being all inspirational. When she uses cheesy lines, they fall flat. When he does, it's goose-pimple city. Delivery. Ask Gore & Kerry about that.

Is it amazing that a black man is at the top of the Dems ticket? Fuck yeah! I was practically crying when he was talking tonight. I was moved by him.

My daughter summed it up, "I'm sad that she lost, but I still like Obama. I hope he tries his best."

Chicago politics also won tonight. It made him and hopefully it won't kill him. Hopefully he can show that you can play with the big boys and not get too dirty.

The uniting needs to start right now. That doesn't mean that Clintonistas shouldn't be demanding that Obama agree on certain points. He still needs to prove his pro-choice stance to many of them. He still needs to move further along on health care. He still needs to work on his debating skills. It's not going to be a slam dunk. More like a 7-10 split...and we all know how much work he has to do on that. It's doable, but he needs some practice.

I feel just the same. I watched Hillary's concession speech and I was inspired, chocked up, and saddened all at the same time. I'm sad that I still won't see a women as president, but you know what? I also know that she opened a lot of doors and I know that some time in the near future we will see a woman as president, and it was all possible by the feminists from the past and the fight that Hillary went through for herself, for her daughter and most importantly for all of us.

I will vote for Obama come November, and I hope that all Clintonistas can put aside their differences and their grudges and remember what voting means and what the issues are and who addresses these issues the best.